Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, a control method, and a storage medium.
Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus performs image formation on a sheet using a recording material such as toner. Generally, the recording material is contained in a containing unit such as a cartridge. Some image forming apparatuses detect a remaining amount of a recording material remaining in a containing unit and display its value on a display unit such as a user interface (UI).
Conventionally, a sensor has been provided in some image forming apparatuses which directly displays a value detected as a remaining amount of a recording material. Due to cost sensors may be used that cannot make an accurate detection until the remaining amount is reduced to some extent. In this case, the sensor detects the remaining amount of the recording material in discrete units, for example, 100%, 20%, and 0%. As a result, the remaining amount of the recording material is discretely displayed, for example, 100%, 20%, and 0% also on a display unit.
On the other hand, there is a technique for continuously displaying a remaining amount of a recording material in a display unit while using a sensor for discretely detecting the remaining amount (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-343621). When an image is formed, a predicted value of a remaining toner amount is calculated based on a dot count value of raster data, and is displayed as a current value of a remaining toner amount. When a sensor value of the remaining toner amount is acquired from the sensor, the current value is updated with the sensor value.
When the sensor value is acquired, a user may be confused when display of the remaining toner amount transitions if a difference between the current value and the sensor value is large. If the sensor value is smaller than the current value, for example, the user may wonder why the remaining toner amount has rapidly decreased, although only a small amount of toner has been consumed when the current value is updated with the sensor value. Conversely, if the sensor value is larger than the current value, the user may wonder why the remaining toner amount stands still for a while, despite toner being consumed, if the current value is not updated until the sensor value overtakes the current value.